CONSTRUCTION is to begin shortly on a £12 million hotel bin Galway which will have conference facilities to cater for up to 1,000 people. The 150-bedroom hotel will occupy a strategic location on the Promenade and will be known as the Galway

Bay Hotel. In addition to the most up-to-date conference facilities, it will also have an extensive leisure centre including a swimming-pool, sauna and steam room. O'Malley Construction will be the builders and the hotel will open for business in 1998. The Galway Bay will be a sister hotel of the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone, which has been completely refurbished since it was acquired in 1992 by John O'Sullivan's Inland Properties.